Healthcare & Therapy Assistant - REACT

Go back East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

The closing date is 02 February 2026

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic and motivated individual to join our award winning Reactive Emergency Assessment Community Team (REACT) as a Healthcare & Therapy Assistant (HTA).

REACT is based within the community and assesses and supports patients experiencing a short-term 'crisis' to remain in their own home, avoiding an emergency admission to hospital where possible. The integrated, multi-agency team covers a varied caseload, and you will join a team of Nurses, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Doctors, healthcare & therapy assistants, social workers and staff from Suffolk Family Carers, Citizens Advice and British Red Cross.

The REACT Service provides 24-hour support, with shifts that will include early, late, nights, weekend and bank holiday working. With a reablement approach our Healthcare & Therapy Assistants support people to regain their level of Independence with activities of daily living.

Please note the successful applicant will be offered either at a Band 2 or Band 3 level depending on your previous experience & qualifications.

Band 2 - you are required to have had minimum 12 months care experience but no qualifications required. You will be required to complete the Accelerated Care Certificate to progress to a Band 3.

Band 3 - you are required to have a minimum 6 months NHS experience as well as completing the NHS Care Certificate.

• To develop and maintain a flexible, proactive and positive approach to the role, whilst being innovative and open to change in working practices.
• To take responsibility and ownership of high-quality service delivery, to foster a culture of integrity, be an ambassador for REACT raising the profile for the service and support ESNEFTs trust values.
• Manage an effective interface with colleagues from health, social care and voluntary care services to ensure an integrated approach to a patient centred care.
• Support clinicians by completing delegated tasks, to meet the individual needs of patients and service users. Gaining skills through training, to support areas of, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Podiatry, Dietetics, Mental Health, Medicines and Social Care.
• Work in collaboration with patients and their carers, healthcare professionals and agencies, to ensure a joined up and integrated approach to patient care.
• Support end of life and long term life limiting conditions, aimed at reducing unnecessary admissions to hospital or long-term care.
• The role will include providing one to one support with patients in their home environment supporting all aspects of personal care and daily activities, using a reablement approach.

Please watch our You Tube video about the service: REACT - You Tube

We are ESNEFT and we provide hospital and community health services to almost one million people across east Suffolk and north Essex. Our dedicated staff deliver care from acute hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, community hospitals, surgeries, community clinics and in patients' own homes.

We are one of the largest NHS organisations in England, employing more than 12,000 staff.

We pride ourselves on supporting our staff. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities, as well as flexible working options.

Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

Our philosophy is that Time Matters to everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which cause time delays for our staff and patients.

We are investing in our commitment to Time Matters with a partnership with leading electronic patient record (EPR) supplier Epic. This digital transformation will bring what's widely regarded as the world's best EPR system to ESNEFT, transforming life in hospital for staff and patients.

If you…